Mary Poppins brings joy and magic to QPAC

In my years of reviewing shows I’ve never experienced the auction react like this, writes Alison Walsh.

Pandemic? Depressing economic outlook? Throw off the shackles of the everyday and pop over to QPAC for a spoonful of rather wonderful sugar that most definitely will help the medicine go down.

Mary Poppins, which burst on to the stage at the Lyric Theatre last night, is a joyful explosion of feel-good entertainment, its magic heightened by polished vocals, terrific sets, a dazzling array of special effects and practically perfect dance.

Stefanie Jones as Mary Poppins and Jack Chambers as Bert at QPAC Picture: Steve Pohlner

The tale of a nanny with a magical touch who descends to help sort out the dysfunctional Banks family’s workaholic father and wild children, is buffed to a high sheen in exuberant production that builds on the character created by Maryborough-born PL Travers and played by Julie Andrews in the 1964 Disney film

The audience was on-board in a way I have never experienced, with entrances and exits enthusiastically applauded and key songs drawing unrepressed adulation. Even a technical problem that saw the curtain suddenly drop and stay down for almost 15 minutes in the first half did nothing to dampen enthusiasm.

A scene from the Mary Poppins Australian premiere

Leads Stefanie Jones, who plays Mary Poppins, and Jack Chambers, who’s Bert the chimneysweep, are both from Brisbane, having met on stage at QPAC as children in The Sound of Music, so it was an especially warm hometown embrace for them.

Jones is precise and startlingly accomplished in voice, movement and raised-eyebrows from the moment she sets her carpetbag down at the Banks home and pulls out a selection of eye-poppingly large items. And Chambers, whose CV includes winning TV’s So You Think You Can Dance in its first season, brings real warmth and charm to his role. He shines like a chimneysweep after a long bath in the Step in Time group tap-dancing segment, which is nothing short of brilliant in its tightly executed choreography. At one point Chambers dances up the side of the stage and continue his moves while hanging upside down from the ceiling. It’s stunning. The performance of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is similarly fabulous.

Jack Chambers as Bert, upside down in Mary Poppins at QPAC. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The Banks children are very ably and confidentially played by Dorothea Seierup as Jane and Fraser Goodreid as Michael, who gets a fistful of cracking one-liners which he delivers with aplomb.

Stefanie Jones as Mary Poppins with Banks children Dorothea Seierup and Fraser Goodreid.

Hannah Waterman brings dazzling cucumber chopping and cracking comic timing to her role as Mrs Brill, Patti Newton drew a rapturous welcome in her role as Bird Woman and Chelsea Plumley is superb as Mr Banks’ former nanny Miss Andrew and her ability to use operatic singing as a form of child control is a treat.

Patti Newton as the Bird Woman at QPAC. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Lucy Maunder does a fine job as Winifred Banks, but her character is a former actress rather than the suffragette of the film, and you wish some more magic had been directed her way.

The Brisbane season, a co-production by Cameron Mackintosh, Walt Disney and Michael Cassel Group, runs until January. Plenty of time to enjoy a riotously uplifting, bewitching show that’s impossible not to enjoy.

Australian premiere of MaryPoppins